Various electrical connectors are used in environments wherein contacts or terminals are exposed exteriorly of a mating surface for mating with the contacts or terminals of a mating connector. Often, the exposed contacts are fabricated of resilient metal whereby the contacts flex into a housing of the connector upon making connection with the contacts of the mating connector. In some instances, the contacts are resiliently preloaded to increase the contact pressure capabilities thereof.
One of the problems with electrical connectors of the character described above is that the exposed contacts are prone to become overstressed if biased too far into the connector housing, thereby losing some of the contact pressure capabilities of the contacts. In some instances, the contacts may even become deformed if foreign objects, other than the contacts of the mating connector, engage the contacts and cause the contacts to become overstressed.
An example of an environment wherein electrical connectors of the character described are used, along with the stated potential problems, is in a portable telephone wherein a handset is mounted onto and off of a base module. The base module mounts an electrical connector having a plurality of contacts for making connection with surface contacts on the phone handset. The contacts are exposed exteriorly of the base module for engagement with the surface contacts on the handset. Such portable or cellular telephones are used in all kinds of applications wherein foreign objects, or even a sharp edge of the handset itself, may engage the contacts of the base module connector and drive the contacts too far into the connector, resulting in overstressing the generally fragile metal contacts.
This invention is directed to solving the above problems by providing an extremely simple anti-overstress means cooperating between the contacts and their housing.